


You Don't Have To Be Silent

by cinnamonsnaps



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-28
Updated: 2012-10-28
Packaged: 2017-11-17 06:04:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/548400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinnamonsnaps/pseuds/cinnamonsnaps
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"AU in which Dave goes mute and can't rap anymore"<br/>I couldn't resist</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Don't Have To Be Silent

It was... well, just after an argument.

Something stupid. Something to do with the game - of course - that John couldn't even remember now.

Dave slept on the couch. John slept in his bed and hugged his pillow, but knew it was futile.

In the morning he would apologise.

Except in the morning he was woken frantically by Dave.

"What-"

Dave made a hoarse sound, akin to gargling. John noticed flecks of red at the corners of his mouth.

"-the hell, are you ok??"

Dave shook his head, made another throaty sound, looked at him, eyes panicking.

The day passed in a blur of doctors and hospitals and confusion.

"-really panicked me, Jade. When the doctor walked in and I just thought, oh god it's cancer. It's not - it's not cancer, don't worry -"

Dave lay on the couch, staring at the ceiling. John was fielding worried calls, telling the story again and again. 

"- doing a lot of shouting," John continued. "screaming at each other and I... yeah... no, you're right. Whatever it was, it tore the - what was it called, nodes? - on his vocal chords -"

Dave rolled over. He didn't need to be reminded of what had happened.

Tentatively, he raised a hand to his throat and felt the smooth skin, a habit he'd picked up during the day. Suddenly, his voice was broken. Suddenly, he couldn't... couldn't speak or laugh or moan -

he grabbed a cushion and buried his face in it.

"-so they doped him up on some kind of... no, he's still awake... I don't know. I don't think he's ready to talk about i-" John stumbled, realizing what he just said. "I don't think he's ready to... for me to..." 

He sighed. "They said it was stress." His voice dropped to a whisper that Dave had to strain to hear. "It's my fault, Jade. I pushed him too hard. I fought with him and I didn't listen and now it's my - yes, yes it is, let's be honest - Jade, please -"

Dave had heard enough.

He rolled off the couch and padded up behind John, looping an arm around his shoulder and quietly resting his cheek against his shoulder.

His fingers curled tightly into fists as he wishes he could just say. It's not your fault, John, he thought. 

It caught both of them out, all the time. John would call "you want the barbeque pizza again or -" from the kitchen and then remember. Dave makes a point of finding him and hugging him when this happens, before noiselessly indicating what he wanted to know.

Neither of them know how long it's going to last. Dave considers sign language, but decides against it, decides there's still hope.

The worst thing was when Dave was clearing out a drawer and found his old raps.

John stood in the doorway, unnoticed, as he watched the blonde soundlessly mouth word after word. He stood up, holding paper out, hand over mouth in typical rapper pose, bobbing his head to a rhythm only he could hear. Sometimes little breathy noises came out, but apart from that, the speed at which Dave's mouth was moving was the only indicator of how much energy and passion was going into this silent tirade.

It broke John's heart.

Dave bobbed, bobbed again, reaching a crescendo in his head, before spinning around to see him.

He dropped the paper.

John reached forward and took the shades off, smiling a little, until he realised Dave was crying.

He pulled him into a hug. "It's ok. I think you could still outperform the real Slim Shady."

Dave pulled back and mouthed a "shut the fuck up" before holding him even tighter.

John felt his lips still moving by his ear, and realised he was still talking. He could hear the breath being expelled, the teeth and tongue moving. He pulled Dave back again to look at him. Dave kept on silently talking, eyes focused on some middle distance.

He pressed a sweet kiss to the side of his mouth. "Write this all down," he murmured, "write all the things you're saying down so I can hear you, so I can hear every single word, even the ones where you ramble for pages upon pages. You don't have to be silent, Dave."

Dave looked at him in a mixture of surprise and exasperation. I love you, he mouthed.

John kissed him back.


End file.
